While there’s a gap in the Ironman schedule I’ll fill in with a UK 70.3 analyses – Ironman Weymouth 70.3 took place over the weekend. As I don’t track qualification for the 70.3 World Champs, this is a quick look over the results with comparison to 2016.

The swim this year clearly trended slower with a broader spread of times than in 2016. After that both bike and run trended slightly faster than the year before. Differences are small though, a matter of minutes at most. The net result is a similar distribution of overall splits with the front of this year’s race (fifth percentile) looking a little faster.

DNS and DNF Rates at Ironman Weymouth 70.3

Year

Listed Athletes

Swim Finish

Swim DNS/DNF

Bike Finish

Bike DNF

Run Finish

Run DNF

Overall DNS/DNF

2016

1765

1404

20.5%

1394

0.7%

1345

3.5%

23.8%

2017

2001

1996

0.2%

1921

3.8%

1869

2.7%

6.6%

There’s a large number of DNS included in the 2016 swim and overall numbers. The bike DNF for 2016 is surprisingly low while 2017 numbers seem fairly standard for a race. Run DNF numbers are not too different between the two years, with 2017 coming in a little lower.

Comparing median splits across age groups gives us another clear indication of slower swim medians, but a mixed pattern for bike and run splits. While there are differences, times from the two years are close enough that we can’t pick out trends crossing all divisions.

There’s little difference in times for specific age group places between the two years either. There are some signs of improvements in times in some age groups, possibly a product of the larger field in this year’s race (effectively pushing a specific placing to a higher percentile in the field).

Finally, comparing the top twenty in each age group over the two years. Art the front of the race 2017 was the faster of the two. For most age groups we see faster times this year. The difference is smaller at the very front of the field – winning and podium positions tending to be very close.